When marketing people talk about placement they aren’t just talking about where you place your item to sell. They’re also talking about where you place your product within the market. Let’s talk about the actual selling spot first. When I started selling things online, Ebay was pretty much the only option. At the time, I used it like many people do, as a global garage sale for collectibles and such things. When I started selling handmade items, a few went on Ebay, but not many.

When I got ready to really sell handmade, Etsy was it. The end-all be-all of handmade online marketplaces. I don’t think I even knew about any alternatives. They are still the 800 pound gorilla, but they’ve run into some trouble lately (to put it mildly) that is off putting to many sellers. Ask your average consumer where they’d look for handmade goods on the internet and they’re still most likely to say Etsy.

Handmade – but maybe not so much anymore.

Most of my sales to date have been through Etsy, save a few Facebook initiated customs. I’ve tried other venues, but nothing’s come close to the amount of traffic and sales Etsy generates. That doesn’t mean I’m 100% happy with them as a seller, but my current customer base is using this venue to look at similar items and it would be silly for me not to have Ruggles there.

Of course there is a veritable ocean of other handmade marketplaces out there, with more appearing every day. What you’re selling might also help determine where you should sell. If you’re selling cloth diapers (for instance) you better be on Hyenacart. If your item doesn’t dictate placement, then it’s up to you. Choose Etsy or one of the others. And although you might get a few views or even a sale just by being on Etsy, no matter what venue you choose you’ll have to do your own promotion work to really make your shop thrive.

Have a serious business plan in mind? Go straight for your own website with an integrated shop. Every seller should work toward this, and I’m currently in the process of redesigning my website to include a shop. Even if you use it as a backup, it’s there should you need it.

Big Cartel (more of a general ecommerce site, but they do support independent sellers)

There are also venues whose main market are Canadians (iCraft.ca) or Europeans (Folksy and Dawanda) although they’re open to everyone worldwide.

What about selling on consignment or at craft fairs? I can’t really speak to those. As a Mom of two young, active boys doing craft fairs is out of my scope. I like the idea, and know several sellers who do quite well at them. If you’re personable and a good salesman event selling might make sense for you. There’s a wealth of information on the net about setting up your booth and finding local shows. As for consignment, I’ve never tried it and never will. I don’t like the idea of putting my product in someone else’s hands to sell. I’d rather do the selling myself. I’ve also never heard of a seller who just loved consignment or had great success with it.

I’m going to touch a little bit on placement within the market. This is where factors like competition come into play. Actually, this stuff is pretty interconnected if y’all haven’t noticed already. I should go into target markets at this point, but that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish I’ll cover as part of promotions.

So let’s pretend the market as a whole for your type of item is a vertical line. You should narrow your focus market as much as possible. So for Ruggles it looks something like this: Toys> Blankets> Security Blankets> Animal Security Blankets. So Animal Security Blankets is my vertical line. I’m positioning myself at the top of that market. I do that with pricing, quality and branding Ruggles as a boutique item. I’d put things like Pillow Pets at the bottom of the same market. If you’re in a highly competitive market, your positioning becomes more important and is one way to help your product stand out. Mine isn’t really a highly competitive market. If I broaden the definition to include things like Taggies then it become a little more so, but nothing like the more saturated categories.

When you search “security blanket” on Etsy you get 7,015 items. Search “animal security blanket” and the field narrows to just 911. I actually don’t have to do much to make sure I stand out in that kind of crowd. I’m not going to lose a lot of business to a competitor because I have no direct competitors. Search for “jewelry” and you get 3,184,739 items. If you’re in one of those highly competitive markets, either your product, or your positioning, or preferably both will have to make it stand out. I decided to do a search for “stamped jewelry” since I like those necklaces and that narrowed the field to 61,289. In a market that large, positioning yourself in line with your competitors is going to be a factor. Unless you have something super special that adds actual or perceived value, like your necklaces being sterling silver or a special shape.

You might think undercutting your competitors and placing yourself at the bottom of the market would be good, but that can backfire. If everybody else is selling their widget for $40, and you sell yours for $5, you may get some sales but you’ll lose a lot because your item will be perceived as cheap. Unless of course it actually is cheaper. It’s okay to occupy that position in the market. Just do it deliberately.

This is far more “wall of text” than I intended. As always questions and comments are welcome! Promotions is up next, and is what I’m best at. That might turn into more than one post…